Ahn Jae-yong, President of SK Bioscience, "COVID-19 Vaccine to Enter Phase 3 Clinical Trials in June"

by Seo Sojeong

Published 27 May.2021 16:43(KST)

Updated 27 May.2021 21:46(KST)

Ahn Jae-yong, President of SK Bioscience, "COVID-19 Vaccine to Enter Phase 3 Clinical Trials in June"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo So-jeong] The COVID-19 vaccine being developed by SK Bioscience is expected to enter Phase 3 clinical trials as early as the end of next month.

On the 27th, Ahn Jae-yong, president of SK Bioscience, stated at the webinar "Vaccine Crisis, How to Overcome It," hosted by the Choi Jong-hyun Academic Foundation, "Among the three projects of two synthetic antigen vaccines (GBP510 and NBP2001) currently under development, we will select the one with the best clinical data and enter Phase 3 clinical trials by the end of June."

President Ahn said, "The most important factor in synthetic antigen vaccine technology is the adjuvant, and fortunately, the clinical data so far has been promising," adding, "We will choose one by comprehensively considering safety, efficacy, distribution, economic feasibility, and productivity."

Currently, SK Bioscience is conducting clinical trials on three vaccines?GBP510 and NBP2001?using adjuvants such as GSK’s 'AS03' and Alum. They plan to narrow down to the most effective candidate and enter Phase 3 clinical trials, aiming to supply domestically produced vaccines in the first half of next year.

Additionally, President Ahn mentioned that although GBP510 received funding support from the international private organization Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), all ownership rights belong to SK Bioscience, so a significant portion of the produced vaccines will be prioritized for supply to South Korea.

Regarding concerns about whether it is too late to develop vaccines now, President Ahn responded, "Vaccines are vastly insufficient to cover the global population," and added, "Currently, messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines are sensitive to cold chain logistics, so vaccines using synthetic antigen technology that can be stored and distributed at 2?8 degrees Celsius need to be developed."